


The Best Birthdays Involve Cake

by vix_spes



Series: Incremental [19]
Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 04:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21293552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: Lucas' husband treats him for his birthday and knows the most important rule ... the best birthdays involve cake.
Relationships: Adam Carter/Lucas North
Series: Incremental [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/377353
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	The Best Birthdays Involve Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Small_Hobbit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/gifts).

Birthday in Budapest. 

It had sounded like a brilliant idea when Adam had suggested it. A little long weekend to celebrate Lucas' birthday. Five days just the two of them doing nothing but relaxing, eating good food, staying in a fancy hotel and doing some sightseeing. Wes would be at school, but they would visit him when they got home so that he could treat Lucas to cake and whatever gift he had bought. Lucas had been unsure about the idea at first but had quickly grown to like the concept, especially considering that they hadn’t.

It hadn’t been quite as quick – or as easy – to convince Harry to let both of them have the time-off together. It wasn’t that he objected to their relationship, more like Section D didn’t run quite so smoothly without them there. Oh, every single member of the team was more than competent at their job however, Ros didn’t quite have the same natural ability for leadership that Adam and Lucas did. However, Harry couldn’t dispute the dedication that the two men showed the department or the amount of overtime that they did. With no other option, he had signed off on the paperwork and gruffly told them to have a good time.

Just as he had with their honeymoon, Adam had taken over planning all the details. To Lucas’ amusement, Adam had spent hours poring over websites, reading reviews and comparing hotels. Apparently, despite their five-star ratings, neither the Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest or the Corinthia had met Adam’s exacting standards. Then again, once they had actually checked into the hotel that Adam had booked for them, Lucas didn’t really have any complaints. The Atelier Suite at the Pest Buda boutique hotel had everything they could want including a view of the Mathias Church at Buda Castle and, while the free-standing bathtub wasn’t quite as big as the one that they had at home, it would still fit them both.

They had had a wonderful time, at least for the first day.

They had taken a leisurely stroll along the Danube Promenade and taken the funicular up to Buda Castle. They had taken a walking tour of Castle Hill, taking in all of the sights - Sándor Palace, Mathias Church, the Vienna Gate and the Fisherman’s Bastion. Lucas had, much to Adam’s amusement, actually pouted when he heard from their tour guide that the castle held a chocolate festival but it was in September and so they had missed it. By mutual decision, they had opted for the castle tour that showed the main attractions and skipped the National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum, although they had paid for entrance to the Széchenyi Library. The rest of the day had simply been spent meandering in the sunshine. Adam had bought tickets for a production at the Hungarian State Opera House, worth it for seeing Lucas dolled up in black tie and the opulence of the venue, even if they hadn’t understood what was going on on-stage.

But then, on the second day, the rain had come down in sheets. It had simply persisted down. It didn’t matter where they visited – the Hungarian Parliament Building, Heroes Square and St Stephen’s Basilica or the Dohány Street Synagogue – still, it continued raining. The city was still beautiful but, well, it was harder to appreciate the beauty in the damp grey. They did their best but, well, it wasn’t easy between the rain and the bleak cold.

There had been other things that they could do given the wet weather; the Gellért Baths or the Széchenyi Baths, but Adam knew his husband well enough to know that Lucas wouldn’t feel comfortable there. The same went for the House of Terror. Everybody they knew who had visited Budapest – and most of the blogs – recommended it, yet Adam knew that the museum would only bring back memories and cause nightmares for his beloved husband. They had visited the Museum of Fine Arts and whiled away a few hours amongst the European masters, but they weren’t the only people to have the same idea and the corridors and hallways were thronged with people. It wasn’t exactly conducive to Lucas’ anxiety around large crowds and neither of them were huge fans for art.

Instead, Adam had opted for the safer – and infinitely more pleasurable – option.

Aware that Lucas was suffering from the cold and the damp – their cab driver earlier in the day had said that ‘Mr Putin had left the fridge open’ – Adam had ushered him back to their hotel and proceeded to run an almost scalding hot bath. The minute that Adam had Lucas ensconced, he gave him a thorough kiss and promised that he would be back.

Lucas had been concerned at first but then the heat had started to leach into his bones, and he had started to relax into the hot water. He struggled with the cold, had done ever since his return from Russia and Adam knew that. Lucas was curious as to where Adam had gone; after all, Adam knew that Lucas relaxed best when Adam was there with him. Irrespective, the hot water and the sound of the rain on the windows had a soporific effect and he found himself drifting off into a doze. He only awoke to the sound of Adam letting himself back into their suite. Given how well he knew Lucas, Adam had only been gone thirty minutes. And, more importantly, he had returned bearing boxes. Confectioners boxes if Lucas wasn’t mistaken.

Any thoughts of sleep were gone from Lucas’ mind and he sat up, the water in the tub sloshing as he did so.

“Cake?”

“Even better. Traditional Hungarian cake. And all of them feature chocolate.”

“You know me so well.” Lucas hauled himself out of the tub and wrapped a fluffy towel around his waist. Crossing over to where Adam was opening the boxes on the table, Lucas gave him a grateful kiss. “What have we got?”

“Dobos torta which is six layers of sponge with chocolate butter cream and caramel topping. Rigó jancsi, a chocolate mousse cake named after a famous Hungarian violinist and Somlói Galuska – three different flavoured sponge cakes with vanilla cream, walnut and chocolate sauce topped with whipped cream. Which one do you want?”

“I think you’ll find the correct question is which one do I want _first._”


End file.
